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After almost a year of waiting, Northrop Grumman will once again attempt to air-launch its Pegasus XL rocket tonight, which will send NASA's Ionospheric Connection Explorer science mission, or ICON spacecraft to study the region of near-Earth space called the ionosphere.

But this isn't a regular type of launch. Instead of seeing a vertical rocket take flight from one of the launch pads here at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station or Kennedy Space Center, the Pegasus rocket will instead be air-dropped by Grumman's Stargazer aircraft.

Interested in this topic? You may also want to view these photo galleries:

• Beginning no earlier than 9:25 p.m., ICON and Pegasus will take off aboard Grumman's L-1011 Stargazer aircraft from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and air-launch the spacecraft over the Atlantic Ocean at 9:30 p.m. The launch window lasts 90 minutes.

• A first attempt had been made last November but teams were forced to scrub due to technical issues. At the press briefing at KSC on Tuesday, Grumman officials said the issue has been addressed and resolved.

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NASA's Pegasus barge arrives at Kennedy Space Center on Friday, Sept. 27, 2019 with a "pathfinder" version of the Space Launch System rocket's first stage. It's a mockup designed for fit checks in the Vehicle Assembly Building. Emre Kelly / FLORIDA TODAY

NASA's Pegasus barge arrives at Kennedy Space Center on Friday, Sept. 27, 2019 with a "pathfinder" version of the Space Launch System rocket's first stage. It's a mockup designed for fit checks in the Vehicle Assembly Building. Emre Kelly / FLORIDA TODAY

NASA's Pegasus barge arrives at Kennedy Space Center on Friday, Sept. 27, 2019 with a "pathfinder" version of the Space Launch System rocket's first stage. It's a mockup designed for fit checks in the Vehicle Assembly Building. Emre Kelly / FLORIDA TODAY

NASA's Pegasus barge arrives at Kennedy Space Center on Friday, Sept. 27, 2019 with a "pathfinder" version of the Space Launch System rocket's first stage. It's a mockup designed for fit checks in the Vehicle Assembly Building. Emre Kelly / FLORIDA TODAY

NASA's Pegasus barge arrives at Kennedy Space Center on Friday, Sept. 27, 2019 with a "pathfinder" version of the Space Launch System rocket's first stage. It's a mockup designed for fit checks in the Vehicle Assembly Building. Emre Kelly / FLORIDA TODAY

NASA's Pegasus barge arrives at Kennedy Space Center on Friday, Sept. 27, 2019 with a "pathfinder" version of the Space Launch System rocket's first stage. It's a mockup designed for fit checks in the Vehicle Assembly Building. Emre Kelly / FLORIDA TODAY

NASA's Pegasus barge arrives at Kennedy Space Center on Friday, Sept. 27, 2019 with a "pathfinder" version of the Space Launch System rocket's first stage. It's a mockup designed for fit checks in the Vehicle Assembly Building. Emre Kelly / FLORIDA TODAY

NASA's Pegasus barge arrives at Kennedy Space Center on Friday, Sept. 27, 2019 with a "pathfinder" version of the Space Launch System rocket's first stage. It's a mockup designed for fit checks in the Vehicle Assembly Building. Emre Kelly / FLORIDA TODAY

Interested in this topic? You may also want to view these photo galleries:

• The Stargazer aircraft will release the rocket and the spacecraft at an altitude of 39,000 feet about 100 miles off the coast of Daytona Beach where Pegasus will proceed to send the $252 million ICON spacecraft to the ionosphere.

• The ICON mission hopes to understand how the gasses in the ionosphere, "the area through which radio communications and GPS signals travel," affects our own technology and communications systems, according to NASA.